Airline Passenger Rights for Delays, Cancellations and Denied Boarding

If your flight is delayed, cancelled, or you are turned away at the gate despite holding a confirmed ticket, you are not at the airline's mercy. Indian airline passenger rights are set out by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) through its Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), and they entitle you to refunds, re-bookings, meals, hotel stays and, in defined situations, cash compensation. This guide explains in plain language what you can claim in each situation, what the numbers actually are, and how to enforce them when the airline says no.

Part of the consumer protection practice at S Jain & Attorneys, Bangalore.

These rights are not optional courtesies. They flow from binding DGCA regulations and, separately, from the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, which treats an airline's failure to deliver a paid-for service as a deficiency in service.

What law actually protects an air passenger?

Three layers of law sit behind every domestic ticket, and you can use all of them.

• The aviation statute and rules. The DGCA issues its Civil Aviation Requirements under Rule 133A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. The parent statute, the Aircraft Act, 1934, has been repealed and replaced by the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024 (Act 16 of 2024), which came into force on 1 January 2025. Section 43 of the new Act repeals the 1934 Act but expressly saves every rule, regulation, notification, order, licence and approval made under it, so the Aircraft Rules, 1937 and the CARs continue to operate exactly as before.
• CAR Section 3, Series M, Part IV. Titled "Facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights", this is the rule that fixes your entitlements. The version currently in force is Revision 4 dated 25 January 2023, effective 15 February 2023, and by its own terms it applies to all scheduled and non-scheduled operators.
• CAR Section 3, Series M, Part II. This is the separate refund rulebook. The DGCA revised it on 24 February 2026, with effect from 26 March 2026, and the revision materially improved refund timelines and cancellation-charge caps.
• The Consumer Protection Act, 2019. An air ticket is a contract for a service. If the airline does not honour it, that is a deficiency in service, and you can file before a Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission for refund, compensation and costs. Section 69 gives you two years from the date the cause of action arose. Section 38(7) says the Commission should endeavour to decide the complaint within three months of notice to the opposite party where no testing of goods is involved.

For international journeys, the Carriage by Air Act, 1972 may also apply. Its long title records that it gives effect in India to the Warsaw Convention of 1929, the Hague Protocol of 1955 and the Montreal Convention of 1999, and those instruments govern carrier liability for delay, death or injury, and baggage on international carriage. The CAR itself provides that foreign carriers operating to and from India pay compensation either under the regulations of their country of origin or under the Indian scale set out in the CAR. Always read the conditions of carriage printed on your ticket, because they incorporate these regulatory minimums.

Key takeaway. DGCA compensation and consumer-forum compensation are not alternatives you have to choose between. The CAR fixes a floor. A consumer commission can order that floor to be paid and then add damages for the harassment, the wasted hotel night, the missed connection and the cost of litigating.

Your rights when a flight is delayed

A delay does not automatically produce cash. It produces duties of care, and past a point it produces a right to walk away with your money. The trigger points are tied to block time, which the CAR defines as the total time from the moment the aircraft first moves for the purpose of taking off until the moment it finally comes to rest at the end of the flight.

If you checked in on time, the airline must provide meals and refreshments free of charge when it expects a delay beyond the announced or revised departure time of:

• two hours or more for a flight with a block time of up to two and a half hours;
• three hours or more for a flight with a block time of more than two and a half hours and up to five hours;
• four hours or more for every other flight.

Two further thresholds change the picture completely.

• Delay expected beyond six hours on a domestic flight. Where the delay from the published departure time (or a revised time communicated more than 24 hours before the original departure) is expected to exceed six hours, the airline must offer you a choice: an alternate flight within a six-hour window, or a full refund of the ticket. The choice belongs to you, not the airline.
• Hotel accommodation. Where the total delay is more than 24 hours from the published departure time, or more than six hours for a flight scheduled to depart between 2000 and 0300 hours, the airline must provide hotel accommodation including transfers, free of cost.

One more provision is worth memorising: the CAR places the burden of proof on the operating airline to establish whether and when it informed you of the delay. Do not accept a bare assertion that an SMS was sent. Ask the airline to produce it.

Your rights when a flight is cancelled

Cancellation rights are stronger and much more precisely drafted than delay rights, and they turn almost entirely on notice.

• At least two weeks before departure. The airline must arrange an alternate flight or a refund, as acceptable to you. No cash compensation is payable.
• Less than two weeks and up to 24 hours before departure. The airline must still offer an alternate flight or a refund, again as acceptable to you.
• No proper notice at all, or a missed connection booked on the same ticket number. Here the airline must either provide an alternate flight acceptable to you, or pay compensation in addition to the full refund of the ticket.

Where compensation is payable on cancellation, the CAR scale is:

• Rs 5,000, or the booked one-way basic fare plus airline fuel charge, whichever is less, for flights with a block time up to and including one hour;
• Rs 7,500, or the booked one-way basic fare plus airline fuel charge, whichever is less, for flights with a block time of more than one hour and up to and including two hours;
• Rs 10,000, or the booked one-way basic fare plus airline fuel charge, whichever is less, for flights with a block time of more than two hours.

If you had already reported at the airport for the original flight, meals and refreshments are owed on top, for as long as you are waiting for the alternate flight.

Common mistake. Booking through an agent and leaving your own contact details out of the booking. The CAR says in terms that no financial compensation is payable to a passenger who did not provide adequate contact information, meaning an email address or a phone number, at the time of booking. Put your own mobile number and email on every ticket, even when a travel agent or a corporate desk is doing the booking for you.

Denied boarding compensation explained

Denied boarding usually happens because of overbooking. Airlines sell more seats than the aircraft has, expecting some no-shows. When everyone turns up, someone is bumped.

The CAR defines denied boarding as a refusal to carry a passenger holding a confirmed ticket who has presented himself for boarding within the time specified by the airline, except where there are reasonable grounds to refuse carriage such as health, safety, security or inadequate travel documentation. If you were offloaded for one of those reasons, the compensation scale does not apply.

Where the flight is oversold, the airline must first ask for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for whatever benefits it chooses to offer. Only if there are not enough volunteers may it deny boarding against a passenger's will. When that happens:

• If the airline arranges an alternate flight scheduled to depart within one hour of the original scheduled departure, no compensation is payable.
• If the alternate flight departs within 24 hours of the booked departure, compensation is 200 per cent of the booked one-way basic fare plus airline fuel charge, capped at Rs 10,000.
• If the alternate flight departs more than 24 hours later, compensation rises to 400 per cent of the booked one-way basic fare plus airline fuel charge, capped at Rs 20,000.
• If you decline the alternate flight altogether, you get a full refund of the ticket plus 400 per cent of the basic fare and fuel charge, capped at Rs 20,000.

Connecting flights are covered too. Where you were delayed at the departure station because of denied boarding and reach your final destination at least three hours later than scheduled, the airline operating the first leg pays on the same scale, whether the onward flight was its own or another carrier's.

Common mistake. Signing for a travel voucher at the gate to make the argument stop. The CAR says compensation is to be paid in cash or by bank transfer, and may be given as travel vouchers only with the passenger's signed agreement. Once you sign, you have consented. If you want money, say so before you sign anything.

Downgrading: when you are moved to a lower class

Revision 4 of the CAR added a distinct entitlement that most passengers have never heard of. If you are involuntarily downgraded and carried in a class lower than the one you paid for, the airline must reimburse:

• Domestic sector: 75 per cent of the cost of the ticket including taxes.
• International sector: 30 per cent of the cost of the ticket including taxes for flights of 1,500 km or less; 50 per cent for flights between 1,500 km and 3,500 km; and 75 per cent for flights of more than 3,500 km.

This is a reimbursement, not a fare-difference adjustment, and it is separate from anything the airline offers as a goodwill gesture.

Refunds: how fast the money must come back

Whenever the CAR gives you a right to a refund, the mechanics come from CAR Section 3, Series M, Part II, revised by the DGCA on 24 February 2026 and effective from 26 March 2026. The core requirements are:

• Credit card payments: refund to the cardholder's account within seven days of cancellation.
• Cash transactions: refund immediately, by the airline office where the ticket was bought.
• Tickets bought through a travel agent or portal: the responsibility remains with the airline, because agents are its appointed representatives, and the refund process must be completed within 14 working days.
• Taxes and airport charges: all statutory taxes and the User Development Fee, Airport Development Fee and Passenger Service Fee must be refunded on cancellation, non-utilisation or no-show. This applies even to promotional and special fares and even where the basic fare itself is non-refundable.
• Credit shell: holding the refund in a credit shell is the passenger's prerogative, not the airline's default practice.
• Cancellation charges: neither the airline nor its agent may levy a cancellation charge exceeding the basic fare plus fuel surcharge, and no additional charge may be levied to process a refund.
• Look-in option: the airline must allow you to cancel or amend a booking without additional charges within 48 hours of booking, subject to conditions about how close the departure date is to the booking date. Check the current CAR for the exact exclusion window before relying on it.
• Name corrections: no additional charge for correcting the name of the same person where the error is pointed out within 24 hours of booking and the ticket was booked directly on the airline's website.

Deadline warning. Two clocks run at the same time and they run at very different speeds. The refund clock is measured in days: seven days for a card refund, 14 working days for an agent booking. The litigation clock under Section 69 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 is two years from the date the cause of action arose. People lose good claims by spending eighteen months arguing on email and then discovering the file is nearly time-barred.

Quick comparison: delay, cancellation and denied boarding

Figures reflect CAR Section 3, Series M, Part IV, Revision 4 (effective 15 February 2023) and CAR Section 3, Series M, Part II (effective 26 March 2026). The DGCA revises its CARs from time to time, so confirm the current version before relying on a specific number.

How to complain and claim, step by step

A calm, documented, sequential approach works far better than arguing at the boarding gate. Every airline is required by the CAR to appoint a Nodal Officer and an Appellate Authority, to display their details on its website, and to issue a unique reference number for every complaint. Use that machinery.

1. Preserve the evidence before you leave the airport. Keep the boarding pass, e-ticket, booking confirmation, every SMS and email about the disruption, and receipts for anything you paid yourself, including food, taxis and hotel. Photograph the departure board showing the delay and the gate announcement.
2. Get the reason in writing. Ask the airline to record the reason for the delay, cancellation or offload, and note the staff member's name and the time. This is decisive later, because the airline carries the burden of proving an extraordinary circumstance.
3. Claim at the counter. Ask for meals, refreshments or hotel accommodation as due, and for the CAR compensation by name. Ask for it in cash or by bank transfer, and refuse to sign a voucher acceptance if you want money.
4. File a written complaint with the airline. Send it to the Nodal Officer, attach the documents, quantify what you are claiming, and keep the unique reference number the airline issues.
5. Escalate internally. If the Nodal Officer does not resolve it within the airline's stated timeframe, escalate to the Appellate Authority whose details the airline is required to publish.
6. Escalate to AirSewa. The CAR itself directs passengers to the AirSewa app or portal run under the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Lodge the grievance there with the airline's reference number attached.
7. Use the National Consumer Helpline. A call to 1915 or a complaint on the consumerhelpline.gov.in portal often produces movement in a fortnight, and the record helps if you later litigate.
8. File a consumer complaint. If you are still not made whole, approach the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, pleading deficiency in service. Complaints can be filed electronically through the e-Daakhil portal. Claim the refund, the CAR compensation, damages for the inconvenience and the cost of litigation.

Escalate in this order, because each rung builds the record the next one relies on.

What it costs and how long it takes

These are indicative ranges, not quotations. Every matter turns on its own facts and on the forum's docket.

• Airline grievance and AirSewa stage: no cost. Realistically two to six weeks from first complaint to a final answer, and a significant share of matters settle here once the airline sees documentation instead of anger.
• Filing fee at the District Commission: under Rule 7 of the Consumer Protection (Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions) Rules, 2020, no fee is payable where the value of the goods or services paid as consideration is up to Rs 5 lakh. Almost every air-ticket dispute falls inside that band.
• Professional fees: you may appear in person before a consumer commission. If you engage an advocate, a straightforward air-ticket deficiency matter in Bengaluru is commonly handled in the range of about Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000 for the District Commission stage, depending on the number of hearings and whether the airline contests seriously. Confirm the fee in writing before you engage anyone.
• Timeline: Section 38(7) of the Act asks the Commission to endeavour to decide within three months of notice to the airline. In practice, contested District Commission matters commonly run about nine to eighteen months, and appeals add materially to that.

Mistakes that sink an otherwise good claim

• Accepting a credit shell and then asking for money. Once you have accepted the shell, the airline will argue the claim is settled. The CAR now makes the credit shell your choice, so decline it in writing at the first opportunity.
• Leaving the contact fields to the agent. No contact details in the booking means no financial compensation for a cancellation. This single clause defeats more claims than any other.
• Not fixing the reason for the disruption on the day. Airlines routinely record operational delays as weather or air traffic control later. Pin the reason down at the counter while the departure board still shows it.
• Confusing basic fare with total fare. Cancellation compensation is capped at the booked one-way basic fare plus airline fuel charge, not the all-in price. Pull the fare break-up from your e-ticket before you assert a figure.
• Missing the alternate-airport entitlement. If the airline puts you on a flight to or from a different airport or terminal from the one you booked, it must bear the cost of transferring you, unless it told you at least six hours in advance.
• Ignoring the two-year limitation. Section 69 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 bars a complaint filed beyond two years from the cause of action, subject to condonation for sufficient cause, which is discretionary and reasoned.
• Claiming only the ticket price. Plead the CAR compensation, the refund, the out-of-pocket expenses, the consequential loss you can prove, damages and costs. A commission cannot award what you did not ask for.

When the airline can lawfully say no

It is fair to know the limits. The CAR excuses the airline from compensation where the cancellation or delay is caused by a force majeure event, described in the CAR as political instability, natural disaster, civil war, insurrection or riot, flood, explosion, a government regulation or order affecting the aircraft, strikes and labour disputes causing cessation or interruption of work, or any other factor beyond the airline's control. It separately excuses causes clearly attributable to air traffic control, meteorological conditions or security risks.

Compensation is also not payable where the airline gave you the notice the CAR requires, where you declined a reasonable alternative, or where you were refused carriage on genuine grounds of health, safety, security or defective travel documents. Note, though, that the burden of establishing an extraordinary circumstance rests on the airline, and so does the burden of proving that it informed you. That is precisely why your written record matters so much.

Where this fits

Flight disruptions are, at heart, a consumer rights issue: you paid for a service that was not delivered. If an airline stonewalls you, our consumer protection law practice can help you frame and pursue a deficiency-in-service claim. For the official framework, you can read the DGCA's Civil Aviation Requirements and the Passenger Charter on the regulator's website at dgca.gov.in.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws change and every situation is different; please consult a qualified advocate about your specific matter.

Related guides and where to get help

If this is a live problem rather than background reading, our consumer protection practice handles these matters from Bengaluru, including for clients who cannot attend court in person. These guides go deeper on the neighbouring questions:

• Denied Boarding Compensation: Your Rights in India
• Insurance Claim Denied or Underpaid? Your Rights
• Flight Schedule Change Compensation: Your Rights